For a few seconds at Anfield, everyone held their breath as two brilliant players were left alone head-to-head
The best striker in the Premier League versus the best defender in the Premier League in a one-on-one showdown with millions of people watching across the world? vs had far bigger things at stake on Sunday but those few seconds when Erling Haaland took on Virgil van Dijk were explosive and exciting. Two masters of their art had almost 3,500 square metres of hallowed Anfield turf to themselves.
Statistically, that shows through with the ‘true’ tackles metric, which combines tackles won and lost, as well as fouls committed while attempting a tackle, to measure how often a player looks to “stick a foot in”. Over the last five seasons, Van Dijk averages just 2.2 tackle attempts per game, but crucially, his success rate is up at a very high 61 per cent. “He never dives in and that’s an art”, says Bamba.
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